1. What is the geosphere and why is it important to humans?
2. How does carbon dioxide contribute to global warming and drought, impacting the geosphere?
3. What are some human activities that negatively affect the geosphere?
4. How does surface alteration affect rainfall infiltration and groundwater depletion in the geosphere?
5. Explain the concept of desertification and how it relates to the interaction between the geosphere and biosphere.
answer the questions above using the information given below
Geosphere
• Geosphere: The solid mass of the earth.
• The geosphere is that part of Earth upon which humans live and from
which they extract most of their food, minerals, and fuel
• Interactions between the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere,
hydrosphere, anthrosphere are important
The Geosphere
Atmosphere/Geosphere Interaction
• Global Warming: Carbon dioxide causes global warming,
drought harmful to geosphere
• Affects atmosphere by fraction of incoming solar
radiation reflected
• Affects hydrosphere by degree of water infiltration to
groundwater
• Acidification: Acid rain acidifies soil, releases toxic Al
• Soil is especially important as a medium for plant
growth
Anthrosphere/Geosphere Interaction
• Human activities greatly affect the geosphere
• cultivation of crops and the associated washing away
of topsoil
• Strip mining
• Waste generation
Drought results in salinisation
Strip mining
The Geosphere
Geosphere/Hydrsophere Interaction
• Surface alteration affect rainfall infiltration
• Can lead to groundwater depletion
• Which then affects the other spheres.
• Subsurface alteration can affect the
anthrosphere
• Hydrofracturing for natural gas production
Geosphere/Biosphere Interaction
• Large areas losing their capacity to retain water
and support plant growth.
• Desertification
1. The geosphere is the solid mass of the earth, which is important to humans because it is where we live and from where we extract food, minerals, and fuel.
2. Carbon dioxide contributes to global warming, which leads to droughts that are harmful to the geosphere. This affects the atmosphere by impacting the reflection of solar radiation and the hydrosphere by decreasing water infiltration to groundwater.
3. Some human activities that negatively affect the geosphere include cultivation of crops leading to soil erosion, strip mining, and waste generation, which can result in salinisation and other forms of environmental degradation.
4. Surface alteration can impact rainfall infiltration in the geosphere, leading to groundwater depletion. This can have cascading effects on the other spheres and can also affect the anthroposphere through activities like hydrofracturing for natural gas production.
5. Desertification is the process by which large areas lose their capacity to retain water and support plant growth, which relates to the interaction between the geosphere and biosphere. As the geosphere is altered through human activities, it can lead to desertification and a decline in the ability of the biosphere to support life.